artsy-crafty babe

tomatoes

I know I've said it before, but I really am enjoying our little garden.  Having fresh vegetables straight from the backyard is something I took for granted as a kid.  I grew up with my grandfather always having a garden, so the fresh veggies were in abundance.  All those tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, okra, etc were things I could care less about.  Boy, have I changed!

Working around my garden and picking vegetables is a highlight of my day.  Every afternoon I look forward to seeing what new thing is ripe.  Ava usually accompanies me.  Right now the tomatoes are in full swing.  I'm able to pick a few just about every day. 

With this being my first "real" garden,  I bought tomatoes that looked interesting, not necessarily varieties that would produce lots.  I have been greatly disappointed in this orange one, Orange Oxheart.  It grew fine and made lots and lots of flowers, but has hardly produced any fruit.  This one big tomato is about all I got.

Somehow I ended up planting mostly small tomato varieties, which is fine, but next time I want big ones.  Oh, and no more Mr. Stripy, chosen for the cool looking stripes.  He's produced okay, but the tomatoes are small, and bust open easily.  Lessons learned.  It's just about time to plant the fall garden - no more heirlooms!  I'm doing my homework this time and choosing based on performance, not looks.

scenes from the weekend

It's been a lazy weekend.  We didn't have anything planned, which was nice for a change.  I picked some veggies from the garden and have my fingers crossed that we eat them before they go bad.  I know, shame on me!  With laziness comes lack of desire to cook...I'm still amazed that I actually grew those!

We're still living with a broken dryer.  I wish we had gotten that clothes line put up, but for now, the fence will do (along with clothes on hangers hung up throughout the house).  A broken dryer we can live with, a broken AC, not so much (that's a whole other story - I'm not going there right now - happy thoughts, happy thoughts).

I also did a whole lot of knitting.  I'm still working away.  I do enjoy the process, but I want to be finished so that I can move on to something else - I already have my second knitting project picked out.  Darn you knitters with your pretty knits!  I'm so easily tempted!!

day 30 :: fresh pickins

my first vegetables, straight from the garden

they didn't last long! 

day 20 :: blooming

This is the first one of these guys to burst open.

Not one of my favorites, but it is a nice photo.

My beloved day lilies.

The newest addition - I hope I don't kill it!

day 9 :: roses

Have a happy weekend, friends!

day 6 :: happy gardener

For a first time vegetable gardener, this makes me very happy!

smelling the roses

Right now has to be one of the best times of the year to enjoy south Louisiana.  The weather has been perfect - warm sunny days (with the exception of last Saturday) and cool nights.   I'm soaking up every moment of it before the sauna-like weather sets in.   It's amazing how quickly things grow in the spring.   It has become part of my afternoon ritual walk around the yard to see what new thing has popped up.  Right now I'm loving all the color I have going on in my flower beds.

My St. Joseph lilies (Amaryllis) are showing their stuff.  These are from my grandmother's yard.  Yes, I'm even a plant packrat.

My irises are blooming.  I have purple, yellow, and mauve.  The yellow and purple ones are from both my and Matt's grandmothers (I can't remember who gave us what), and the mauve are from a friend.

Then there's the mini roses I just planted last weekend.  I couldn't decide on one color, so I bought 3.  Yes, I know that's a no-no.  Just the other night I was watching a show about common landscaping mistakes and too much color was one of them. Oh well, it's my yard - I don't care!

I couldn't resist taking a picture of these purple beauties.  This is a wildflower that popped up along the base of my crape myrtle.  They're so pretty I didn't have the heart to pull them.  I wish I knew what they were, this is the first year they showed up.  I like unexpected surprises like that.

it happened overnight

While I've been busy inside making spring bags, spring had been springing right outside my door.  I was surprised to see so many new blossoms around the yard.

redbud tree:

peach tree:

dianthus, which grew like a weed over the winter:

daisies, another survivor from last year:

petunias in my windowbox (just planted those):

Ahh, I really do love this time of year!

hot

I must admit, this is not my favorite time of year.  It's just too darned hot.  And humid.  So hot that the heat smacks you in the face as soon as you open the door at 6:30 am.  So what do I decide to do in all this heat?  Work in my yard.

We're lucky in that in March, April, and May we get to enjoy great spring weather with beautiful blooming flowers.  By the time July rolls around everything is overgrown, spindly, and just plain fried.  Look at that crape myrtle.  It has grown so much that the branches were touching the grass.  You couldn't even see the flower beds underneath.

So, I gave it a pruning.  This isn't the time of year to cut back crape myrtles, but this one needed it.  I was afraid that Matt would get decapitated by those low limbs while cutting the grass.  The only problem now is that I can see all the weeds in my flower bed.

 

Isn't the trunk beautiful?  I love the look of the peeling bark.

With everything in such a sorry state I decided to buy a few heat loving plants to spruce things up.  Again with the potato vine.  Did I not learn anything last year?

Look at this crazy lantana.  It definitely loves the heat.  This baby is thriving in it.

And of course I couldn't end this post without showing my sunflower.  I planted a whole slew of them (3-4 packs) but only had a few make it this far.  I blamed Matt for cutting them down with the weed eater, but later learned that Phoebe had been eating them.  Crazy dog.

sucky me

I'm sorry.  I've been a bad blogger lately.  One aspect of blogging that I enjoy most is making connections with those of you out there.  I love following your links and reading your blogs.  Honestly, I couldn't do this whole blog thing without you.

My blogging as of late has been very one sided.  I keep putting stuff out there without taking the time to respond to questions and emails.  My in-box right now is FULL!  No, I don't respond to every comment I get, but I do like to check out your blog, especially if I've never been there before, and answer any questions that were asked. 

Maybe it's burn out, maybe it's laziness, I don't know, but I sure don't like it!  I promise to do better, really.

I haven't forgotten about the tutorial for the pleated tote.  I got the pattern worked out and in a proper format for you to print (I hope), now I need to work on writing up instructions and taking some photos.  Michelle, if you're reading, the bag I'll be demonstrating is yours -I hope you like it.

So, don't be surprised if it's a little quiet around here.  I'm trying to catch up after a whirlwind May and we're trying to figure out our summer rhythm at the artsy-crafty house.  Happy Summer!!

*In case you were wondering, these are a few beauties from my garden.